Capote: Gerald Clarke's Literary BiographyIt took me a hellishly long time to read this book. Of course, I was reading it in conjunction with a read of Capote's works at the same time. So, I would read a novel, or a few short stories, and I would take back up with Clarke's biography.But that's rather an excuse. Because Capote's life is often not a pleasant subject--not from childhood up to his last days, lost in a fog of Vodka and drugs.And I've taken a hellishly long time to absorb what I've read and decide what to say about this book. For my life and Capote's life have shared certain intersections, though we certainly never met. The closest I came to meeting Capote was meeting his father Arch Persons. I was six years old.Yes, Capote's father lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for some time. Older goodreads members may remember a time when penny scales were in front of seemingly every business. Persons had those scales in our town. A friend told me he also raised Pekingese puppies. In fact, Persons gave his family one. But my friend's dad was a County official.My grandmother and I had been to the A&P. That used to be a grocery store chain. Do any exist anymore? As we drove toward the traffic light, Persons backed into us. "My dear lady, let me give you my card. Why there's no need to call the police. I'll be glad to take care of the damage. Clearly I was careless."My grandfather was rather perplexed that my grandmother had not called the police. He grew more perplexed when there was no answer at the telephone number and the address turned out to be an empty lot. It took the District Attorney indicting Arch Persons for leaving the scene of an accident to achieve receiving restitution in the case.Years later as an Assistant District Attorney, I went to the file storage on the unfinished seventh floor of our courthouse. I kept that file with me until I retired from that office after twenty-eight years of service. It was a literary curiosity having Capote's file in my cabinet.I began my career in juvenile court. It was the prevailing thought that you started a green lawyer in "Juvie" where the least harm could be done and seen. After all, what happens in "Juvie" stays in "Juvie." It's confidential. My work in juvenile court put me on the trail of child advocacy. The consequences of what happened in juvenile court were not lost on me. As I rose through the ranks at the DA's office I had the ability to assign senior lawyers to that Court which remains the policy of the office I loved so much.So, it was my work, that frequently made me wince as I read of Capote's childhood. Persons was a con and a grifter. His mother Lillie Mae Faulk was charmed by Persons. Truman was their only child. Persons traveled frequently attempting to hatch get rich schemes. On the road, staying in hotel after hotel, Persons and his mother would leave young Truman locked in their room while they hit the night life of whatever location they happened to be in. They told hotel staff not to let Truman out, even if he screamed. And he did scream.Persons knew Lillie had men on the side. He didn't seem to object. He stopped counting at 29 affairs. Of course, a tryst with Jack Dempsey might have led to a great promotional event, so maybe he didn't count that one.Lillie moved North to attend business school. She took Truman with her. Persons continued rambling around the country to grub money however he could. Persons was shocked when Lillie announced she wanted a divorce. She had met Cuban business man Joe Capote. The child they so willingly left locked alone in strange hotel rooms became the center of a fiercely fought custody suit. The unwanted child was the prize in a contest neither wanted to lose. But Persons did lose.Having won custody, Lillie preferred spending her time with her new person rather than Truman. It was convenient that the Faulk clan was available to take Truman in back in Monroeville, Alabama. His time there was most likely the most stable period in his life. Of course we know of his beloved Cousin Sook. And, yes, she called him Buddy.Periodically Lillie would return to Monroeville and take Truman back to New York. He was a disappointment to her. He was a sissy. She told him so.And, back in Monroeville, Arch would promise to pick up Truman and take him to the beach down at Gulf Shores. Truman would have his bag packed with a new bathing suit. Arch never showed.Joe Capote adopted Truman. It should come as no surprise that he would write his real father and tell him that he should address him as Truman Capote henceforth.Sensing that Capote was a sissy, Lillie, who had now changed her name to Nina, decided military school was just what Truman needed. And it was there that Truman experienced his first homosexual activities, euphemistically known as belly rubbing.The Faulks lived next to the Lees. Amasa was a lawyer. Younger daughter Nelle Harper was Truman's best friend. And their friendship lasted until Harper Lee won a Pulitzer and Capote did not. Harper Lee was of immense help in gaining entry into the homes of the residents of Garden City, Kansas, as no one knew what to make of Truman. Her work on "In Cold Blood" in my opinion should have granted her co-author status. But we will never know why that did not occur. Nor does Clarke explain why Harper Lee disappears from the pages of Capote's biography.As he matured, Truman seemed to choose lovers most likely to promote his career as a writer. Most influential was Newton Arvin who mentored Truman and provided him with a formal literary education. It was Newton who promoted Capote to Random House. However, Newton's relationship with Capote was very controlled. Capote scheduled his visits with Newton as Newton allowed. Arvin did his best to hide his sexuality.Clarke's biography is a fine work, emphasizing the significance of each of his works. He charts Capote's rise to success and his climb through the social circles of New York and Europe. And he charts Capote's decline with equal objectivity.After a long relationship with fellow writer Jack Dunphy, Capote became increasingly addicted to pills and alcohol. He entered into sexual relationships with partners his social circle saw as inferior to them.The final years were spent in repeated attempts at rehabilitation and repeated hospitalizations. Capote was emphatically told he would die if he continued to drink. He drank, essentially ostracized by all his friends because of his betrayal of them in segments of his unfinished novel "Answered Prayers." I have pondered whether Capote committed a long, slow suicide in the only manner he could face.To be continued...
(nb: I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss)After he published “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote was the most famous writer in America, if not the world. Its novelesque telling of a true story received widespread critical acclaim, intrigued the countless readers who bought the book, and was turned into a successful Hollywood film.This was also the apex of Truman Capote’s life. He’d been successful as a writer, and he’d made friends with his “swans,” a group of incredibly wealthy and powerful women. “In Cold Blood” blew everything into the stratosphere. Capote had made it to the top of the mountain. All that was left was the incredible, ugly fall.Gerald Clarke’s “Capote: A Biography” is widely considered the definitive story of the tiny acerbic writer who captivated readers. Clarke spent well over a decade researching his biography, interviewing dozens of Capote’s friends and enemies, and becoming a friend and confidante of Truman himself. That was one thing Truman insisted on: he didn’t want to read anything Clarke wrote, nor did he want any limits on his story. It is a fascinating story, to be sure. Clarke takes us back to Capote’s dreadful childhood, where poor Truman was frequently abandoned and shuffled between relatives. We follow Truman through different schools, and into his first job, as a copyboy at The New Yorker. His first success was as a short story writer. He moved into novels. Then the novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” took him to another level. His work on “In Cold Blood” exacted a huge toll on Capote, who couldn’t finish his book until the two criminals he’d befriended hanged. From then on, Capote became famous essentially for being famous. He was a frequent guest on talk show couches, and he rubbed shoulders with the glitterati. Soon after, Truman Capote’s life began falling apart, and Gerald Clarke was there for the final years. Again, this is the foremost biography on Truman Capote—it’s the one the Oscar-winning film “Capote” was based. The beauty of “Capote: A Biography” is that Gerald Clarke pulled no punches with his subject. Yes, he was Truman’s friend, but he never shied away from showing the famous man at his worst. Despite the amazing amount of research and material Clarke accumulated, he manages to keep his narrative taut. It’s still a long story—the version I read was around 600 pages—but it never bogs down in any one period. Truman Capote’s life was anything but simple. He was flamboyant, hugely talented, and larger-than-life. To write a thin, cursory biography would be doing a great disservice, both to the subject and the reader. Gerald Clarke nails it, capturing a life filled with the highest highs and the deepest depths. His work casts Truman in the bright spotlight, showing his triumphs and failures alike. Truman would have it no other way.Highly Recommended
Do You like book Capote (2005)?
This book broke my heart. The man had so much brilliance and too many "red devils."His rise and fall seems so much like that of his mother Nina (on which the character Holly Golightly was partially based and with whom he had a love/hate relationship). Once he became well known in the 40s (more for who he was and what was anticipated he would do), he spent his recreational time social climbing until he had reached the top of the strata. Like his mother, he had his face pressed against the window to another, better world. But once he got there, that world was largely unsatisfying. Like Nina, he took his own life in the end. She did it quickly. He did it slowly through a continual abuse of drugs and alcohol.He spent his life conflicted. He was unwanted as a child. As an adult he tried too hard to please those who didn't want him. He was obviously different, so he became uber-flamboyant and "out there." Yet he was fascinated with the regular or mediocre (as he noted, he preferred his lovers to be stupid). And ultimately, he'd realize that the lovely swans of his social circle weren't that much better than the rest of society. With some degree of disdain and dreams of matching wits with Proust (ala "Rememberance of Things Past") which was when he wrote the scandalous article that turned the swans against him.Once they rejected him for his betrayal, he realize he was cut adrift. His moorings were gone. And after the emotional and physical toll that writing "In Cold Blood" took, he didn't have the strength to rebound. Hence a fast slide into drugs, alcohol, bad relationships, and a wasted last 15 years. I loved the first half of the book, but the last half was so hard to read. It was like losing a friend.
—Hannah Kirchner
A good biography is worth the 500+ pages, and the time it takes to read it. The Gerald Clarke, biography of Truman Capote was worth every page turned, in my opinion. Capote was quite the character. I wish, wholly wish, I got to hob-knob along side him for a summer. To hear him laugh, snicker about the latest gossip and attend one of his parties. I have regret for something that is wholly impossible; to live near Capote and be able to experience his life, first-hand. I could say a lot about this book, but I think you should read it. Find your own joy in the pages of a life that seems almost impossible to be true. I enjoyed the library book I checked out, so much, that I promptly went and bought a copy for my own library. It is due for a re-read, very soon!
—Larynda McKay
if you are going to read one book on capote, this is it--please excuse the hackneyed phrase, but it will make you laugh and cry. I honestly feel like i understand truman and i wish i wouldve known him. quote by Truman Capote from Conversations with Capote by Lawrence Gorbel:"This man Gerald Clarke who's writing this book about me--do you know him? He's one of the lead writers at Time magazine. He's really a very good writer. His book, it better be fantastic, because he's worked on it for eight years. I've never known such research. This is the first book he's written. I don't want to read it, but he certainly knows more about me than anybody else does, including myself."
—Erin
